Lorna Irungu

Occupational Information

Lorna is the Managing Director of The Gina Din Group, Africa's most awarded communications agency headquartered in Nairobi.

Prior to this, Mrs. Machria was running her own boutique communictations firm, Siwa Communications, that provides strategic communications support to clients. With over 20 years work experience, Lorna is well versed in media and event management, crisis communication, strategy, and brand development. Her work has focused on clients with a strong social impact mission across private, public and social sectors.

Lorna says she strongly believes there is power in an informed and energized citizenry to launch and drive societal change to live the lives we truly desire. This engagement needs to take place in all sectors and at all levels. Her passion is in shaping, telling and sharing those stories, which she is able to do through her work as a Communication Strategist helping business, campaigns, and even individuals. She seeks to do so by playing to their strengths and ideals. This field of endeavour is the result of her evolution as a communicator, having started out as a media personality, hosting and producing television and radio programs for over ten years.

She is a graduate of Fast Forward in Kenya 2015 and an Eisenhower Multi-Nation Fellow, Class of 2016. She is also an AFLI Board Member. She has undergone three kidney transplants in the last 19 years and become a powerful advocate for patients' rights. Lorna is the first East African in 30 years to participate in the World Transplant Games, which she did in 2013. She is married to a Tutu Fellow, Edwin Macharia, and together they have a daughter.

Qualifications

Communication degree from Daystar University

Programs

2010 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow

Staff & Fellows Login

Featured News

2018 Tutu Fellow Aminu Umar-Sadiq has been appointed as an Executive Director and Member of the Board of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, or NSIA, by President Muhammadu Buhari. This appointment sees him move from his previous role as Senior Vice-President and Deputy Head of Infrastructure, also at the NSIA.

In 2018, the NSIA Board established a Direct Investment Committee for review and oversight of investments in core domestic infrastructure sectors such as motorways, agriculture, healthcare, power, and education. Aminu has significant experience in investment banking, private equity and public finance, including his most recent role at the NSIA.

2018 Tutu Fellow Adebola Williams has been named a 2019 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Adebola, who is the founder of RED Media, was selected from thousands of applications from across the world following a rigorous vetting process designed to identify global leaders and young visionaries working to shape the future through inspired leadership.

Created in 2004 by Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, as a way to help the world meet increasingly complex and interdependent challenges, Adebola Williams will join an elite community of the world’s next-generation leaders in influencing decision-making through the contribution of new ideas, perspectives and energy.

2014 Fellow Sello Hatang has been awarded the Keys of the City of Florence by its Mayor, Dario Nardella. Hatang, who is the Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, was awarded this special honour to recognise his work in human rights and promoting the legacy of Nelson Mandela. The award states: "To Sello Hatang, who carries out the challenging and luminous task of keeping Madiba's legacy alive. We share with him a long history of friendship and the ideal of an open society based on remembrance, solidarity, equality and respect for human rights."

Mayor Nardella reflected on the long histories of interconnection between Florence, Italy, Nelson Mandela and the Foundation. He emphasised the need to intensify the work during these challenging times of intolerance.

2017 Fellow Bosun Tijan, together with the Rwandan Minister of Information & Communications Technology and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, have launched the ‘CcHUB Design Lab’. The launch event took place on 14 February 14 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda.

The design lab is an extraordinary leap in Africa’s growing tech sector, and is set to become a leading creative and collaborative space between its multidisciplinary team of product designers and engineers, and scientists and stakeholders globally. They will be on a mission to explore the application of emerging technologies that will solve Africa’s systemic problems in public health, education, governance and the private sector. The first partner joining the Design Lab will be the Rwanda Biomedical Centre.

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About AFLI

The African Leadership Institute (AFLI) is unique among leadership initiatives in that it focuses on building the capacity and capability of visionary and strategic leadership across the continent. Developing exceptional leaders representing all spheres of society, the Institute’s flagship programme is the prestigious Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship. Offering a multifaceted learning experience and run in partnership with Oxford University, it is awarded annually to 20-25 carefully chosen candidates, nominated from across Africa. Alumni of the African Leadership Institute form a dynamic network of Fellows passionately committed to the continent’s transformation, bridging the divide between nations and ensuring that Africa is set centre-stage in global affairs.

AFLI Workplace

AFLI uses Workplace by Facebook as its networking and collaboration platform for the Tutu Leadership Fellowship. It allows Fellows to network, discuss issues, develop position papers, plan events, and coordinate with each other ahead of meetings when travelling to other countries. It also provides a space for programme associates to collaborate on their requirements for the Tutu Leadership programme.

Workplace is a software app that functions across desktop and mobile using familiar features like groups, chat, and video calls, and is used by more than 30,000 organisations around the world. It uses an interface familiar to anyone who has used Facebook, but adjusted for the workplace. We have provided answers to FAQs on how to log in, how Workplace can be used, and answers to possible technical questions users may have. Fellows can log into Workplace by clicking on the the logo.